AP Japanese Course Outline

The AP Japanese Language and Culture course is aimed to designed to be comparable to college or university Japanese courses that show the students have completed around 300 hours of college-level classroom instruction. Just like the corresponding college courses, the AP course also supports students as they develop the productive, receptive, and cultural skills necessary to communicate with native speakers of Japanese. The course nurture the students to show as well as prove their level of Japanese proficiency across the 3 communicative modes namely, Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational and the five goal areas (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities) as outlined in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. The main aim of the course is to provide students with ongoing and different opportunities for the developments of their proficiencies across the language skills while learning about Japanese culture and society.

Content and Skills

The AP Japanese Language and Culture course aims to provide an introduction to contemporary social, political, or educational issues; the place of religion within Japanese society; or roles of traditional v/s modern male and female gender, more customary topics like traditional Japanese arts, customs, festivals, geography, and history, at more deeper and intense levels. The most demanding texts have these sources of information require command of a significant no. Of kanji; kanji list is given at the end of the section.

Students will develop their interpersonal skills throughout the course which further help them to request information and confirm the receipt of information, request and give directions, issue and respond to invitations. Students can also develop more challenging functional language skills but not limited to the ability to compare phenomena, express opinions and preferences and discuss life experiences. As the students of AP Japanese Language and Culture, they also maintain an appropriate register in the application of each of these skills are familiar with desu/masu and da (plain) styles of Japanese and with keigo, and effective use of keyboarding skills.

The following course takes a holistic approach to language proficiency while at the same time recognizing the complex relationships with its different component parts inclusive of comprehension and comprehensibility, vocabulary usage, communication strategies, cultural awareness, and linguistic accuracy. A typical course enhance the given abilities of students.

Interpersonal Mode (i.e.. Two-way, interactive communication)

Initiate orally or respond to greetings and formulaic expressions in an appropriate manner and with pronunciation, intonation and a level of accuracy comprehensible to native speakers accustomed to dealing with learners of Japanese.

Orally request information on a variety of topics e. g. personal information, school subjects, daily activities, people, and products of Japanese culture or respond to such a request exchange information in writing on a variety of topics (e. g. personal information, School subjects, daily activities, people and products of Japanese culture), using orthography (kanji, spelling) and language comprehensible to native speakers accustomed to dealing with learners of Japanese.

Ask and give preferences orally in a culturally appropriate manner and with pronunciation, intonation and a level of accuracy comprehensible to a native speaker accustomed to dealing with learners of Japanese. Ask and give preferences in writing in an appropriate manner at a level of accuracy comprehensible to a native speaker accustomed to dealing with learners of Japanese.

Orally respond to suggestions, requests or invitations in an appropriate manner and with pronunciation, intonation and a level of accuracy comprehensible to a native speaker accustomed to dealing with learners of Japanese.

Written respond to suggestions, requests or invitations in an appropriate manner with a level of accuracy comprehensible to a native speaker accustomed to dealing with learners of Japanese.

Interpretive Mode (i.e.. Understanding of spoken or written communication)

Gather details and make inferences on an age-appropriate social or cultural issue.

Understand the details of authentic or semiauthentic materials on age appropriate topics.

Gather and understand necessary information from authentic or semiauthentic materials.

Gather details and make inferences regarding athe expressed opinion on an age-appropriate social or cultural issue.

Gather and understand the details of a short statement on a desired topic relevant to the student's daily experience.

Gather and understand the details of an expressed opinion on age-appropriate social or cultural issues.

Presentational Mode (i.e.. Spoken or written communication)

People, places, events and activities description that are familiar to the student in writing on a computer.

One's past experience description in writing on a computer.

Japanese special events description in writing on a computer.

Information announcement on events or activities by schools.

Form in a coherent manner and show cultural knowledge through story telling.

Japanese cultural practices and products description and present one's own views on them.